I will do reviews for friends. By friends, I mean we’ve shared some sort of professional exchange. Here are examples, but not all-defining, a) we’ve done a reading together and your sample resonated with me. b) We were in an anthology together and your story jumped out at me c) We’ve met at a convention and you’ve given me a book. The list goes on, but those are some of the means in which I’ve received books to review.

I am a slow and picky reader. I want to enjoy your story, but writing is an art form, and sometimes the match of artist to viewer doesn’t mesh. If you gave me a book you didn’t get a review, it is either still in my giant pile o’books or it wasn’t the right fit for me. The world of writing is too small to create new enemies, and if I punch your baby in the face, we probably aren’t going to be friends.

I love reading good debuts, but I will be honest—even if I like you. I used to write reviews on a 10-point system, but recently threw that away because there is no such thing as a perfect book. Also, in my paranoia, I feared authors felt slighted when they received ‘7’s,’ so I abandoned the point system. Now every book I review gets a 4 or 5-star on GoodReads and maybe Amazon.